His father leaned out over one arm. “Chie-chan, the first summer he worked grocery stock, I think he must have eaten almost ten kilograms of strawberries before we figured out why we never seemed to have enough of them on the shelves.”
Chie giggled vociferously, while Yousuke merely shrugged and continued to eat his cake.
“I don't remember that,” Kimiyo said from the other side of the table.
Misato shook her head. “You were probably too young. That was before we even moved here.” She looked up with a grin. “I remember when onii-chan was working in the clothing section, and he put the mannequins in those terrible positions...!”
Both Hitomi and Yousuke burst out laughing then, although their father shook his head in disapproval:
“I was not amused by that.”
“I know,” Yousuke said through his fading chuckles. “You docked me a week's pay for that stunt.” He leaned over to Chie and mock-whispered, too loudly for everyone else not to hear, “But it was worth it, to see the look on my dad's face.”
His mother clicked her tongue, but she was smiling, too. “I'm certain you're not surprised to learn what a terror Yousuke-chan was growing up.”
Chie shook her head. “Not really,” she admitted with a giggle.
Yousuke shrugged again, running one finger along his plate and scooping up the last remainders of the icing. “I had to do something to get noticed around here,” he said as he sucked on his finger.
His mother nodded. “Ryuhei worked so much, and you were the only boy in a house full of women.”
Hitomi snickered. “Yeah, is it any wonder that my brother's just a little bit gay?” And she squinted through the space between thumb and forefinger.
“Oh, whatever,” Yousuke retorted, turning slightly red over his cheeks and nose.
Beside him, Kimiyo laid her head against his arm. “Nii-chan's always been very sensitive,” she said in a kind of sing-song voice. “I think it's good.”
Yousuke leaned his head down to hers. “Thank you, imouto.”
Hitomi snorted. “I think it's gay.”
Yousuke pointed a finger at her. “See, comments like that are the reason why you're my least favorite sister.”
Hitomi started out as my favorite of Yousuke's sisters (due in no small part to her original influence as the rock star of the family)...but as I wrote the sisters with more characterization and detail, Kimiyo turned into my favorite. I think because Hitomi and Yousuke are so similar in outlook, and Kimiyo adds a little bit of "big brother-ness" to Yousuke's character, moreso than the twins do.
There's a little bit of sisterly interaction still to come around Inaba's summer festival (a nice little parallel to Yousuke and Chie's relationship, too), but I think that the sisters have pretty much finished playing any kind of large role in the story in Part II. (Part III is primarily about Chie's family coming into play, notably her grandfather.)
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